Keyword: nonapology

I owe an apology. On the eve of Independence Day, I have a renewed sense of what this country stands for, and how I personally could help achieve it. The promise of equality and freedom is one that all of us have to work for, at all times. I know this as a survivor of the Japanese American internment, which each day drives me only to strive harder to help fulfill that promise for future generations. I recently was asked by a reporter about Justice Clarence Thomas’s dissent in the marriage equality cases, in which he wrote words that really...

We would like to take this opportunity to separate fact from fiction: There was never a Muslim prayer Â– or a prayer of any specific religion at the Stock Show this year. Because the Stock Show is an annual community event that attracts many visitors from around the world, country and state each year, last spring, we established a faith-based committee consisting of a wide range of local clergy. We based our decision on and selected our participants from the MayorÂ’s Faith Cabinet Directory. We invited each participant to provide a one-minute prayer to include the safety of the contestants,...

A state representative from Hartford is taking some heat for parking in a handicapped space. An iWitness snapped a photo of the personal car driven by Rep. Brandon McGee with his state-issued license plate parked in the spot at a Dunkin' Donuts on Capitol Avenue, across the street from the State Capitol. The picture was taken Friday. McGee said he issued an apology on his Facebook page. "Thank you for holding me accountable. The other day (Friday to be exact) I made my usual run to D&D and was in a hurry... parked in a handicap parking space... Major no-no....

Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe will "express remorse" for World War II, the Associated Press reports. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Monday that his government would express remorse for World War II on the 70th anniversary of its end in August. [Snip] He said the government would draft a new statement "that includes Japan's remorse for the war," though he stopped short of saying it would apologize. The Japan Times has more on the move:

Beyoncé has been labeled "insensitive" by some current and former NASA astronauts and their families for sampling audio from the space shuttle Challenger disaster for a love song off her newly released album. Challenger exploded 73 seconds after liftoff from the Kennedy Space Center Jan. 28, 1986. All seven crewmembers aboard were killed. "Flight controllers here looking very carefully at the situation. Obviously a major malfunction," now-retired NASA public affairs officer Steve Nesbitt said as the nation watched wreckage fall toward the ocean on live television. Twenty-seven years later, Nesbitt's voice is heard at the beginning of the video for...

The context for this little chestnut of racial nastiness was a heated floor debate in the Illinois legislature over a proposed education reform bill. The fireworks started when Democratic Representative Linda Chapa LaVia, who is Hispanic, delivered a speech criticizing charter schools. Ms. Chapa LaVia was no doubt casting aspersions on behalf of teachers unions — who’ve contributed heavily to her campaigns, are bankrupting the state, and don’t much care for competition. In defense of the status quo — which traps far too many children, especially children of color, in failing public schools — Chapa LaVia appealed to her fellow...

Phil Griffin, head of the MSNBC cable television channel, told Marisa Guthrie of the Hollywood Reporter that he accepts responsibility for recent embarrassments that led Alec Baldwin and Martin Bashir to leave the network and Melissa Harris-Perry to offer a tearful on-air apology. "These were judgment calls made by some of our people. We handled them. We were transparent. That is our philosophy: Be factual, and step up when you make a mistake,” Griffin asserted. “We took responsibility for them and took action. They were unfortunate,” but “I don't think it hurt us in any way.” While known as a...

On MSNBC's Melissa Harris-Perry show Saturday, a few minutes after the host's emotional apology for a racially-charged segment on last week's show, panelist Katrina Vanden Heuvel renews the charge that Republicans are racists. [video goes here] The panelists are discussing populist sentiment in America as part of a discussion about the election of Bill de Blasio in NYC. The discussion spans a commercial break, and in the second half, Katrina Vanden Heuvel is addressing the idea that Republican populism has been successful in stirring up emotion and movement based on a message of lower taxes and limited government. Vanden Heuvel...

Speaker John Boehner’s office ripped John Podesta, the incoming counselor to President Barack Obama, for comments he made to POLITICO, comparing House Republicans to followers of Jim Jones, who murdered five people, including then-Rep. Leo Ryan, before committing mass suicide in Guyana in 1978. “For those who’ve forgotten, a Democratic member of Congress was murdered in Jonestown and a current one, Rep. Jackie Speier, was shot five times during the same incident,” Boehner spokesman Brendan Buck said in a statement to reporters. “If this is the attitude of the new White House, it’s hard to see how the president gets...

Each Friday, Politico Magazine picks the political scandal of the week, and our colleague Mike Allen asks Playbook readers to weigh in with their crisis-management expertise, both professional and otherwise. This week’s scandal: the spectacular implosion of Martin Bashir, the MSNBC daytime host who resigned Wednesday as controversy mounted over his remarks about former vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin. Here’s what got him in trouble: On his Nov. 15 broadcast, Bashir called Palin "a world class idiot" because she made a comparison to slavery while discussing U.S. debt to China. The host then read an excerpt from the diary of a...

Just over two weeks ago, MSNBC host Martin Bashir delivered a harsh piece of commentary that culminated in the suggestion that someone should “s-h-i-t” in former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin‘s (R-AK) mouth. Bashir offered an abject apology on his next broadcast, but a chorus of critics continued to demand action against the host. After a reported “vacation” for the host earlier this week, Bashir announced, Wednesday afternoon, that MSNBC and Martin Bashir are parting ways.

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) said that Obama’s apology to people whose health insurance was dropped “wasn’t an apology”—it was like apologizing for someone’s dog dying “and you refuse to acknowledge the fact that you just ran over that dog with your car.” “It certainly wasn’t an apology. When I heard it, really the analogy I was thinking of was, you tell somebody, ‘Boy, I’m really sorry your dog died,’ and you refuse to acknowledge the fact that you just ran over that dog with your car. Those are your tire tracks on that dog,” Johnson said speaking with Charlie Sykes...

Under pressure from lawmakers to hold President Obama accountable for the horrific Obamacare roll out today on Capitol Hill, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius responded to questions about Obama's responsibility with, "Whatever."

Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) removed a Facebook post Monday that alleged a House GOP leader told President Obama “I cannot even stand to look at you” at a private meeting. Durbin said he did not immediately take down the post after it was proven false last week because he wanted to leave it in the proper context. "If I'd have raced to take it off, [the media] would have done that story too: `Durbin races to take this off.' I wanted to put into context how I got into this situation," he told the Associated Press. After Durbin...

Mecklenburg County commissioner Kim Ratliff apologized Tuesday night to the public and her colleagues for saying she preferred that the next county manager not be a white man. Ratliff, the board’s vice chair who is a Democrat and black, said in a brief statement at the board’s regular meeting that she regrets making the statement. “My comments were meant to encourage all candidates to apply for the position and not meant to exclude anyone,” she said. “I realize now my comments may not have been appropriate, and I regret making them.”

Minnesota state representative Ryan Winkler, a white Democrat, did not have the world's most well-thought-out response to the Supreme Court's 5–4 ruling against a key provision of the Voting Rights Act today. As you can see in the tweet above, he referred to Clarence Thomas, who voted with the majority, as "Uncle Thomas." Uncle Tom is a derogatory term used to describe "a black who is overeager to win the approval of whites (as by obsequious behavior or uncritical acceptance of white values and goals)," which is exactly how it's being used here by Winkler. Winkler deleted the tweet and...

Bob Costas said he made a “mistake,” violating his own rule of not trying to compress a nuanced topic into small bit of air time, with his controversial halftime commentary Sunday night on the murder-suicide committed by Jovan Belcher of the Kansas City Chiefs the day before. “My mistake is I left it open for too much miscommunication,” Costas said in a lengthy interview on “The Dan Patrick Show.” The 90-second weekly spot, he said, doesn’t offer enough time in which to adequately discuss the issue of “the football culture, the gun culture, domestic violence.”

Well, the Democratic National Convention has gotten off to the kind of start one might expect after four years of Barack Obama. First, Democratic campaign surrogates kept fumbling the hardly-unexpected "are you better off" question every incumbent since Jimmy Carter has had to answer. Now the leader of the largest state party has suddenly departed from Charlotte after comparing Paul Ryan to Josef Goebbels and then attempting to deny he'd made a Nazi comparison at all. John Burton, the chair of California's Democratic Party, said that Ryan had adopted Goebbels' "Big Lie" technique in his convention speech last week:CLICK ABOVE...

One of the commenters on the Adam Smith "apology" VIDEO made the astute observation that Smith's "apology" sounded a lot like the "apology" made by Wesley, a hippie character in the movie "Forrest Gump," after he hit Jenny. I looked up the script of "Forrest Gump and the commenter was dead on in the comparison. Here is Wesley's "apology" to Jenny: WESLEY: Jenny? Things got a little out of hand. It's just this war and that, that lyin' son-of-a-bitch Johnson. I would never hurt you. You know that. And just like Wesley, Smith brings up extraneous political stuff to excuse...

The Obama presidency is fond of issuing apologies for America on the world stage, but very rarely makes them at home to Americans. White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer has just issued one to Washington Post columnist and Fox News contributor Charles Krauthammer, who last week wrote an op-ed berating the Obama administration for removing a bust of Sir Winston Churchill from the Oval Office when it came to power. Pfeiffer had issued a stinging attack on Krauthammer, alleging that his Churchill bust reference was “100 percent false.” Krauthammer was of course 100 percent correct, and the British Embassy in...

For over 20 years, I have illustrated the absurd with absurdity, three hours a day, five days a week. In this instance, I chose the wrong words in my analogy of the situation. I did not mean a personal attack on Ms. Fluke. I think it is absolutely absurd that during these very serious political times, we are discussing personal sexual recreational activities before members of Congress. I personally do not agree that American citizens should pay for these social activities. What happened to personal responsibility and accountability? Where do we draw the line? If this is accepted as the...

SNIP Sgt. 1st Class Jared Monti was actually killed in Afghanistan on June 21, 2006. In September 2009, President Obama awarded him the Medal of Honor posthumously. On his Facebook page this evening, Monti's father, Paul, posted: "FYI- President Barack Obama telephoned me personally this afternoon to apologize for his error in his speech to the 10th mountain division re: Jared's medal ceremony. Apology accepted."

SANTA ANA – Democratic Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez said Friday that her now-famous remark about "Vietnamese" trying to take her seat had been misinterpreted but apologized if it caused any offense. She did not, however, apologize for calling her Republican challenger Van Tran – himself an immigrant from Vietnam – anti-immigrant. Instead, she accused him of using her words to "take a cheap political shot."Sanchez told an interviewer earlier this month on Spanish-language television that "the Vietnamese and the Republicans" were trying to wrest control of her seat in Congress. She described Tran in the same interview as "very anti-immigrant and...

During the 3:00PM ET hour of live coverage on MSNBC Friday, co-host David Shuster admitted that racially charged quotes he and other hosts attributed to Rush Limbaugh had not been verified: “MSNBC attributed that quote to a football player who was opposed to Limbaugh’s NFL bid. However, we have been unable to verify that quote independently. So, just to clarify.” Shuster did not formally retract the quote or apologize.

Democratic Rep. Alan Grayson generated conservative anger with a speech last night in which he said, in regard to the GOP health care plan, "Republicans want you to die quickly if you get sick." (Watch it at left.) The comment prompted calls for Grayson to apologize from Republicans and the threat of the introduction of a resolution of disapproval on the House floor similar to the resolution censuring Republican Rep. Joe Wilson for his "you lie!" outburst at President Obama. Now Grayson has apologized – though it's probably not going to placate his critics. On the House floor this afternoon,...

Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.) mocked Republicans Wednesday who demanded he apologize for saying that they want people who get sick to "die quickly." "I apologize to the dead and their families that we haven't voted sooner to end this holocaust in America," Grayson said on the House floor. The "holocaust," he said, was the 44,789 people who die each year in the United States each year because they don't have health insurance, citing a Harvard study. Republicans said Democratic leaders should force Grayson to apologize. “Alan Grayson not only refuses to apologize, he is doubling down on his despicable remarks...

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano apologized to veterans in a FOX News interview after a DHS report labeled returning troops at risk for embracing right-wing extremism. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano apologized to veterans after a report issued by her department said troops returning from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were at risk for being recruited by right-wing extremists. "To the extent veterans read it as an accusation ... an apology is owed," she said during an on-air interview on FOX News Thursday, a day after veterans' groups and members of Congress blasted her for the report, which they...

Release Date: April 15, 2009 For Immediate Release Office of the Press Secretary Contact: 202-282-8010 The primary mission of this department is to prevent terrorist attacks on our nation. The document on right-wing extremism sent last week by this department’s Office of Intelligence and Analysis is one in an ongoing series of assessments to provide situational awareness to state, local and tribal law enforcement agencies on the phenomenon and trends of violent radicalization in the United States. I was briefed on the general topic, which is one that struck a nerve as someone personally involved in the Timothy McVeigh prosecution....

WASHINGTON (AP) - Two days after calling Rush Limbaugh a mere "entertainer" with an "incendiary" talk show, Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele apologized and acknowledged the radio commentator as a "national conservative leader." "To the extent that my remarks helped the Democrats in Washington to take the focus, even for one minute, off of their irresponsible expansion of government, I truly apologize," Steele said late Monday. Steele's statement capped a remarkable weekend of awkward sparring between Republican officials and Limbaugh, who has repeatedly voiced his desire that President Barack Obama's economic policies fail.

With pressure growing on him to act, U.S. Sen Christopher Dodd Monday morning allowed reporters to view all of the loan documents and communication he and his wife had when negotiating mortgages with Countrywide Financial Corp. ... "I regret I did not do this sooner and I apologize to the people of Connecticut for the delay,'' said Dodd, who was joined by his wife Jackie Clegg Dodd in a sometimes tense meeting with reporters at his Hartford offices.

WASHINGTON – Treasury Secretary-designate Tim Geithner said Wednesday he was careless in failing to pay $34,000 in Social Security and Medicare taxes earlier this decade and apologized to Congress. ... As to his failure to pay the payroll taxes from 2001 to 2004 while he worked for the International Monetary Fund, Geithner said: "These were careless mistakes. They were avoidable mistakes."

After reading articles here on Dana Jacobsen's drunken anti-Christian rant at a celebrity roast, posted here among other places:http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1957067/postsI wrote to ESPN to complain about her behavior. Here is the response from ESPN:Dear Thomas, Thank you for your message. Here is what I know about Dana Jacobsen's behavior at the Mike and Mike roast. On Jan. 12, The Press of Atlantic CIty ran a story that included a description of Jacobsen's drunken behavior the previous night, saying she had made a "fool of herself" on stage, "mumbling along and cursing like a sailor as Mike & Mike rested their heads...

It looks like Monkey-gate may be over. Earlier this week, Erin Burnett raised some eyebrows as she flippantly referred to President Bush as a "monkey" during Monday's broadcast of Morning Joe. The video on YouTube has over 60,000 views. Today, on Hardball, she apologized to President Bush. "Earlier this week I was on MSNBC, on Morning Joe, and I made a bad attempt at humor...I said something stupid, I just want to make sure I apologize if I offended anyone. I do have the upmost respect for the President, I hope he has a great weekend, and Chris, I hope...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - November 1, 2006 CONTACT:Â Melanie Morgan - (916) 441-6197 KerryÂ’s Non-ApologyAccuses Americans of BeingToo Stupid to Understand Him (SAN FRANCISCO) Â– The chairman of the nationÂ’s largest pro-troop organization, Move America Forward (website: www.MoveAmericaForward.org ) has issued the following statement rejecting the non-apology by Senator John Kerry for his comments belittling the intelligence of U.S. Troops in Iraq. STATEMENT BY MELANIE MORGAN, CHAIR Â– MOVE AMERICA FORWARD â€śYour non-apology is not accepted, Senator Kerry. Â“John Kerry has done it again! He has sunk to a new low by managing to insult the American people and...

(Ignoring the blather on Immigration and Impeachment, I proceeded to the Idiotorial remarks on the CIA leak postscript from the Houston Comical - weegee): -------------------- With the latest developments in the CIA leak case, some Bush apologists insist that it's time for a correction or contrition from those of us who spoke out about the White House's involvement. At least as far as my commentary has gone, I see no required rollback. Bush has not taken the "appropriate action" that he promised in October 2003, as Karl Rove remains on the White House payroll. Disclosure that Richard L. Armitage, when...

Group Apologizes for Comments Comparing Conservative Christian Group to Gestapo The Associated Press DENVER (AP) - A Washington-based interfaith religious group is apologizing for comments made by some of its members that compared a conservative Christian group to the Gestapo and the Taliban. The letter of apology released Thursday by the president of The Interfaith Alliance said the comments made in May about the group Focus on the Family were inappropriate for public dialogue. "We regret that personal opinions expressed by individuals have been viewed as, associated with or confused with the organizational voice of The Interfaith Alliance," the Rev....

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said Friday he regretted any misunderstandings caused by his comments earlier this week comparing American interrogators at Guantanamo Bay to Nazis. The White House, Senate Republicans and others had called for an apology after Durbin's comments Tuesday. Durbin made the comparison after reading an FBI agent's report describing detainees at the Naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, as being chained to the floor without food or water in extreme temperatures. ''If I read this to you and did not tell you that it was an FBI agent describing what Americans had done to prisoners in their...

Now in unveiling its 224-page report of Rather's faulty work, CBS admits that the Rather story was unfair and inaccurate, but there is a new deceit. The report claims that there is no "basis" for adjudging the existence of "political bias" in Rather's shabby journalism. The fact is that major media are as dominated by the so-called liberal point of view as are our universities. I say "so-called liberal point of view" because the modern liberal is not very liberal, after all. Neither tolerance nor love of liberty characterizes the point of view of the contemporary liberal, merely conformity. The...

Statement by NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue regarding the Super Bowl halftime show: "We were extremely disappointed by the MTV-produced halftime show. It was totally inconsistent with assurances our office was given about the content of the show. "The show was offensive, inappropriate and embarrassing to us and our fans. We will change our policy, our people and our processes for managing the halftime entertainment in the future in order to deal far more effectively with the quality of this aspect of the Super Bowl."

City to retract release calling Free Republic a 'hate group.' Fresno will pay $60,000 to conservative online forum Free Republic and retract a news release that called the organization a "hate group," according to a settlement agreement released Monday. Free Republic founder Jim Robinson, who lives in Fresno, said he wouldn't have filed the suit if the city had acknowledged its error. "I think it's unfortunate the city did not retract and apologize immediately after they knew they were in the wrong," Robinson said. City Attorney Hilda Cantu Montoy said the lawsuit was settled to "avoid the expense and burden...